Harbhajan is now Officially Unbowlable

[Ram]

new morning. new bowler owned them what should be the headline??

If Cricinfo wanted to refer to Harbhajan's performance, it should've been 'England's tail succumbs to Harbhajan'. Plainly, he isnt the reason why England got bowled out for 300-odd. He contributed yes, but other bowlers played equally important roles, in the context of the entire innings. To mention his name alone is inaccurate. Lets be honest, if the umpire had upheld Zak's lbw shout of Monty the previous over, Zak would have ended up with 4. What then? The appropriate headline for today's play so far would have been 'India wraps up English tail' or 'England all out for 302' or whatever.

[cochise]

The champ makes a comeback late last evening with KP's vital wicket and flourishes today. Well done...fight through the slump!

[punjabi_khota]

Thats a grossly exaggerated headline.

Haha..yes it is. It was tongue in cheek.

[King Tendulkar]

Cricinfo:"England succumb to Harbhajan"

Headline is spot on. As headline is about what happened in todays play. And in todays play england succumbed to Bhaji. Also Warne so often cleaned up tails and got lauded for it. Bhaji has cleaned up the tail superbly, well bowled bhaji:two_thumbs_up:

[Shehezaada]

Bump!

[Laaloo]

God help our team if we rely on this buffon on days 1-4 pitch and overseas pitches :D

[Willow_on_fire]

Bowling O M R W Econ Z Khan 21 3 76 3 3.61 (1w) I Sharma 12 0 55 1 4.58 (4nb) Yuvraj Singh 6 1 20 0 3.33 Harbhajan Singh 20.5 2 68 4 3.26 A Mishra 24 0 75 2 3.12 (1nb) Thanks Bhajji for performing for your team...also thank you for making some sissies cry here...:cantstop:

[fineleg]

^ Such wavering on and off inconsistency will only cost us in the long run Bhajji just has to wake up and be brave while bowling, and not throw in darts or pies when he is hit for a few runs.

[Willow_on_fire]

^ Such wavering on and off inconsistency will only cost us in the long run Bhajji just has to wake up and be brave while bowling, and not throw in darts or pies when he is hit for a few runs.

the word 'dart' is being used over & over...it is not even funny anymore...:giggle:

[bunny]

I don't think one can rely on an off spinner to take wickets all the time, especially if the opposition has some good players of spin. That said, Harbhajan can still improve his flight variations and not just rely on his bounce to get him wickets.

[sandtest]

Bhajji will be more consistent only when he is sees some REAL challenge to his place as spin spearhead in the team. I hope after Mishra, both Pragyan & Piyush etc. up their game. Only internal competetion will bring best out of Bhajji.

[cowboysfan]

Bhajji will be more consistent only when he is sees some REAL challenge to his place as spin spearhead in the team. I hope after Mishra, both Pragyan & Piyush etc. up their game. Only internal competetion will bring best out of Bhajji.

what does "internal competition" mean?.the only we see competition is by dropping bhajji.

[sandtest]

what does "internal competition" mean?.the only we see competition is by dropping bhajji.

That means, either of Ojha/Chawala perform well to prove that they can replace Bhajji any day. At present that is not happening. Mishra has shown promise, but even then Bhajji place is safe as second spinner since India believes in 2-spinner theory in Tests. personally I have no problem with Bhajji, even when his bowling is unimpressive, he manages to take wickets. That said, he is lot more talented than this and can do better than bowling ODIsque flat deliveries in Test matches.

[cowboysfan]

That means, either of Ojha/Chawala perform well to prove that they can replace Bhajji any day. At present that is not happening. Mishra has shown promise, but even then Bhajji place is safe as second spinner since India believes in 2-spinner theory in Tests. personally I have no problem with Bhajji, even when his bowling is unimpressive, he manages to take wickets. That said, he is lot more talented than this and can do better than bowling ODIsque flat deliveries in Test matches.

yes but i still feel bhajji is our best spinner and i dont see any body even close-they are not going to drop bhajji just to introduce a new bowler in a test match unless its against bangladesh or if he is injured-the only way we see a new spinner is that mishra really sucks it up and we have to replace him.we need a good off-spinner and bhajji is it for the conceivable future and this hand -wringing is not going to change it.

[Fontaine]

yes but i still feel bhajji is our best spinner and i dont see any body even close-they are not going to drop bhajji just to introduce a new bowler in a test match unless its against bangladesh or if he is injured-the only way we see a new spinner is that mishra really sucks it up and we have to replace him.we need a good off-spinner and bhajji is it for the conceivable future and this hand -wringing is not going to change it.

No he's not. Bhajji isn't a threat against top order batsmen. He can threaten the tailenders and that's fine, we need a spinner to clean up the tail and Bhajji routinely pads his stats by doing that. But when it comes to being a frontline spinner and taking top order wickets, he hasn't done that for how many years? It's pretty clear that our fast bowlers are the ones that make the early breakthroughs.

[sandtest]

^^ and that is something which should concern all Indian fans, because Bhajji is in the team as our MAIN spin attack in test matches. If our frontline main spinner is not regarded as threat to top order batsmen of opposition, then we will be in serious trouble winning in subcontinent, particularly when pitches won't offer much for pacers and you need to get a set batsman out before he builds up a big partnership -- precisely the job of a main spinner.

[fineleg]

^ Yes - this is the issue, and we need to have bhajji on his toes all the time.

[King Tendulkar]

Bhaji joint top wicket taker of the series and 2nd top wicket taker in tests in 2008

[DomainK]

There are two facts we need to digest: 1. Harbhajan is not as good as some of us think he is. He has many weaknesses. 2. Still he is the best we have.

[King Tendulkar]

There are two facts we need to digest: 1. Harbhajan is not as good as some of us think he is. He has many weaknesses. 2. Still he is the best we have.

No we all realise he is not mendis. Bhaji is a good spinner and is 3rd best in world. He will need runs on the board and helpful pitches. However given the support he has in pacers and runs to play with he continues and will be an effective performer for us. He is certainly the best we have and until a magician turns up he will continue to be rightly selected, especially with his valuable contributions with the bat as well